The old prison planet idea brought to startling life by that master of Science Fiction James White, humans captured by aliens put on a prison planet to fend for themselves, but there’s a visit from the Sector Marshall…

The Galactic Gourmet is a 1996 science fiction book by author James White and is part of the Sector General series.Todd Richmond wrote that the Sector General series declined after Star Healer (1985), hitting a low point with The Galactic Gourmet, and that the later books tended to stretch a short story’s worth of content to the length of a novel. However he thought that Mind Changer (1998) represented an improvement.A famous chef wangles an appointment to Sector General for the challenge of creating food for so many different species. Like the Sommaradvan healer Cha Thrat (Code Blue — Emergency), he creates chaos everywhere he goes.He first meets the swimming "crocodile-like" Chaldars, who complain that their food is unsatisfying. Realising that they are accustomed to capturing their food live, he develops motile food for them. They are delighted, but they completely destroy their hospital ward charging around chasing it.Next, he learns that the spray-on food used to nourish the Hudlar is uninteresting. His investigations show that it needs small toxins to "flavor" it, which would be found naturally on their home planet. He visits a Hudlar ship, but causes a huge cargo bay accident expelling him into space. He rescues himself by riding some sprayers back to the station, but is in everyone’s bad books.Sympathetic staffers hide him on the ambulance ship Rhabwar for an upcoming assignment. In the meantime, an epidemic at the hospital turns out to be a major nutmeg overdose caused by a sous-chef foolishly using ten times the required amount in a recipe.The Rhabwar is sent to a starving planet, whose people think their dwindling meat supply is the only desirable food and are shamed by its lack. He is able to commune with their first Cook better than the diplomats are doing. He finds ways to improve their sad vegetarian diet, and helps to set more positive attitudes toward it. The Cook’s son is wounded on a game-hunting expedition, and the medical ship takes him on board for healing. The populace grows very angry, mystifying the team. They finally recall the aliens’ cannibal tradition and produce him alive.

The dejected Surgeon-Captain Lioren is disappointed that his Court-martial has rejected the death penalty for him, and instead has assigned him to O’Mara at Sector General. He is plagued with guilt, because he is responsible for the genocide of an entire race. At moments during his new tasks, he ponders the individual events that led up to the alien deaths.First contact with the Cromsag planet was quickly followed by the discovery that their entire population was wasting away from some unidentified disease. They were starving, and their birth rate was absymal. Additionally, they were continually in hand-to-hand combat with each other, presumably competing for food.The Sector General ships hurriedly provided food to malnourished people everywhere, along with medical aid for combat injuries, and tried to determine the cause of the mysterious disease. Despite their best efforts, deaths from the plague continued to increase. Lioren grew frustrated with the slow process of sending samples back to Sector General and awaiting diagnostics and full tests to ensure the effectiveness of potential cures. In his arrogance, he administered a treatment to the entire population… and they rose up and slaughtered each other, wiping out their own race.Interspersed with recalling these events, he shares some of his story with people at Sector General. Lioren speaks to the terminally ill Dr. Mannen, eventually reviving Mannen’s interest in life. Lioren also offers encouragement to the isolated alien Khone (see Star Healer.) Next he is asked to speak to a gigantic Groalterri, whose race is so advanced they have until now refused all contact with the federated planets. The humans are desperate to make any sort of progress with this race, but the Groalterri patient won’t communicate with anyone. Bit by bit, Lioren shares his own guilty history and talks the suicidal alien into lowering its emotional barriers. From its story he manages to figure out the Groalterri’s hitherto unknown injury and arrange surgery that will change its life. Finally, at the end, Lioren meets with the handful of Cromsag survivors.

W Szpitalu Kosmicznym dzieją się bardzo dziwne rzeczy. Doświadczony lekarz popełnia proste i zarazem śmiertelnie niebezpieczne błędy, a niższy personel medyczny ma halucynacje i nie może się doliczyć instrumentów. Doktor Conway odkrywa wkrótce, że przyczyną nie są bynajmniej mikroby i że za sprawą kierowanego myślą narzędzia może się dokonać przełom w medycynie. Trzeba się jedynie porozumieć z jego chorym właścicielem. Tymczasem na planecie Drambo, pośród walki o przetrwanie i konfliktu jądrowego, niełatwo leczyć, a co dopiero rozmawiać. Rozpoczyna się naprawdę trudna operacja…James White (1928–2001) to urodzony w Irlandii genialny twórca SF. Początkowo pracował jako urzędnik, asystent menedżera, specjalista od spraw reklamy. Współwydawca czasopism „Slant” i „Hyphen”. Debiutował na łamach „Astounding Science Fiction”. Największą popularność przyniósł mu cykl powieści o Szpitalu Głównym Sektora Dwunastego.

“Normality” involves comparison to a standard—but how do you judge the standard?

ORBIT HOSPITAL ist ein Klinikum im All, das allen raumfahrenden Lebensformen der Galaxis medizinische Hilfe leistet. Es nimmt alle Geschöpfe auf, ob sie ein Dutzend Gliedmaßen haben oder gar keine, ob sie sich von Radioaktivität ernähren oder Wasser atmen – von anderen exotischen Gewohnheiten und Bedürfnissen ganz zu schweigen. Es ist ein ökologisches Tollhaus und ein organisatorischer Irrwitz, aber es ist für alle da und es funktioniert. Es ist im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes – lebensnotwendig.